Here's another great outlet for creativity and ideas which enormous fun will sharpen your wits and help you brush up your English.
At our English lesson, we rolled the Rory's Story Cubes and told cooperative tales! Each story was random and there was never a wrong way to go about telling it! The students started with what we call Stasis, then we continued the ball (the cubes!) rolling with Catalyst Event. Next came Climax, and the last - Stasis Returns.
On each face of the cube is a unique image that represents anything from an apple to a zapping lighting bolt. The images are surprisingly detailed, too, making it easy to distinguish what the image is attempting to represent. Although, what the image really represents is up to the individual to determine. For instance, a symbol of Camel could mean Asia, Summer, or Perseverance. In addition, there are lots of expansion packs. The Actions set is probably more useful for learners (each cube illustrates a common verb). However, the Voyages set can be used much the same way as the basic set. The cubes are heavy without being bothersome and easy for little hands and my bigger hands too.
My adult logical mind is often left perplexed and wondering when exactly we story and that’s where it stops; the majority of the responsibility to provide the fun and game rules is placed on the students playing the game. Play the game with individuals who choose not to be creative or get into the spirit of the game, and your experience will most likely be less than satisfactory. You have been warned, Poor Yorick!
Here's a transcript of one of the stories I liked.
Stasis Roll (#1): [Abacus]. Once upon a time, an abacus sat on a teachers’s shelf, gathering dust.
Setup Roll (#2): [Tree]. It stared out the window at a large, willow tree in the front yard.
Catalyst Roll (#3): [Fire] Suddenly the tree erupted into flames! The abacus jumped with fright!
1st Turning Point Roll (#4): [Sad Face] The abacus felt terrible that such a beautiful tree would be destroyed.
Complication Roll (#5): [Cane] I... just... maybe won’t use this one. It's not really a cane to me but rather a magic alethiometer hand (or golden compass hand). OK, I think I’ve got this. The aged teacher ambled into his study and noticed that his old abacus was not displaying the code to unlock his phone anymore. He looked around to see if anything else was amiss, and noticed the burning tree. As quickly as he could, he shuffled off to find his phone.
Build-towards-Crisis Roll (#6): [The die ended up noticeably tilted] lol! We did a couple of imaginary air-push ups and tapped gently the dice tray (human solution) but it didn't work. It is called negative dice tilt. Neutral or positive tilt (you can guess what that means!) is better. Bigger LOL!
Climax Re-roll (#6): [Scarab] ... er... In all of its long, lonely years on the shelf, the abacus had made friends with the mice and the bugs. So, the teacher called to a little bug and clicked out a message to help all the poor aphids and ladybugs and cicadas in that tree. Soon enough, an armada of beetles were swarming in with teeny, tiny buckets of water and slowly, slowly, the flames diminished.
2nd Turning Point Roll (#7): [Fish] What a... #!/usr/bin/local/bash! Finally, the last bug, a giant one with a giant bucket of water came under from this fish shell shebang, and he dumped that water to extinguish the tree. The tree looked like it might be OK, but up in the blackened boughs was a large, wriggling, golden fish. The English teacher dislodged the fish with his cane and carried it inside, where he filled a sink. Once the fish was in, it said “Oh, thank you, kind sir! I shall grant you three wishes.”
Move-to-Resolution Roll (#8): [Apple] The teacher replied, “Boy, I wish that I had an apple for every time I’ve heard that fish story.” Just as soon as you please, three apples appeared. “Huh,” murmured the comprehensive teacher, “I could have sworn that I’d heard it more often than that.”
Outcome Roll (#9): [Clock] “OK, OK,” said the teacher. He apparently had second thoughts, “I won’t waste my other wishes. I wish to turn back the clock to be a school boy again.” Before he could blink, time reversed! Years rolled back in seconds. When he looked around, the school boy saw no laptop, no cell phone. Shrugging his shoulders, he took his abacus off the shelf and they lived happily ever after until the invention of the calculator.
Do you like this kind of interactive fiction?
Skills:
o Active Listening & Communication
o Logical & Critical Decision Making
o Imagination
Learning Curve:
o Child – Easy
o Adult – Easy
Theme & Narrative:
o Whatever you create!
Discoveries:
o Bits of Serendipity
Discoveries:
o Bits of Serendipity
